Tag Archives: Photos

Best of London Jan. 3-29 in pictures #1

As I promised, here are some of my favourite photos taken by yours truly and my friends! I still need to figure out a number of things with the GeoBlog/MovableType website apparently (I keep running into technical problems). I apologize for the pictures not being in a chronological order (technology hates me).

 

To see the pictures, scroll down. Enjoy!

 

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London Evening Standard about 2 weeks ago. Unlike in State College, snow is rare in London.

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The British Museum

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Yes, I live SUPER close to Baker Street

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Tower Bridge from Thames

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Parliament and Big Ben

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The Beatle’s Abbey Road Studio

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The London Eye


Location: London, UK

Walk Down Memory Lane (now with photos!)

Hello everyone.  Do to the somewhat slow connection speeds of China’s interwebs, I was not able to upload photos with ease these past few months.  So in a make-up-for-lost-time mindset, as well as a good way to relive some of my memories, I shall start photo blog of sorts with my top fave pics and captions.  Enjoy!

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A wooden model of the Forbidden City in a museum in Beijing.  Cool!
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A theme park in Jeju, South Korea that featured a 1/100 scale model of the Forbidden City!  Cool!  (Also featuring the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, and others)

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But nothing beats the real thing!  (Panda hat FTW!)

Location: Home, Where the Hear Is

City of Beautiful People, and Dogs

(Really this entry was an excuse to post more pictures. Cheers.)

A beautiful city needs beautiful people. And they’re here in abundance.

skyline.jpgArgentines dress in dark colors. They’re put together well. Pretty much everyone here is attractive, too. There must be something in the water.

The only other general thing I can say on the subject is that the white-haired men comb their hair back in an old-school, slick way. That and I’ve hardly seen anyone –  actually, I don’t think anyone – obese.

plaza.jpgI also don’t feel so short here. My 5 feet, 3 inches actually seems to hold up.

Other than that, I’m starting to feel that sense of the “routine.” Even though it’s been anything but routine so far, everyday being different, I’m scared of falling into some kind of waste-of-time trap. I’ve needed this day to catch up on posting photos from the past, though, as well as rest up and actually catch some sleep.

This city is freezing, too. I didn’t pack enough warm clothes, that’s for sure. The IES Packing List is obscene. Don’t follow it if you come to Buenos Aires. Not that I did at all, but they emphasize not overpacking and I think underpacking is also a serious problem. You should pack what you know you will need. Period.

students1.jpgWe went to the University of Buenos Aires today. I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to take more pictures of this, but there were posters everywhere, created by students, promoting the socialist parties. So far it seems to me that they’re a passionate bunch. I’m looking forward to seeing the atmosphere in the classroom here.

students2.jpgLots of dogs in this city, stray and otherwise. Some of them posed for photos nicely. They´re chilling, have a good time.

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Location: Avenida de Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Argentina

¡Estoy aqui!

Well.  Getting internet to work in Mexico has been a more difficult task than I previously anticipated.  I’m currently sitting in my room in the house of my Se�ora Mexicana, Isabel Merino.  Her niece (pardon if I butcher the spelling, which is very likely), Maipe lives here too, along with a dog called (again, I’m still not positive), Melle.  I think he’s named after a fruit, but I’m not totally certain what the fruit is either.

 

I have to admit, I had no idea it was going to be so hard to understand and to communicate with everyone here.  I just keep nodding and agreeing with my two hostesses, even though I’m understanding maybe 1/3 to � of what they’re actually saying.  It’s incredibly frustrating, and I’m fairly certain they think I’m an idiot for not getting the most basic things until they’ve repeated themselves three or four times.  I’m sure they’re as annoyed as I am that we’re almost totally unable to communicate except in the most basic ways, and even then if I forget the vocabulary for something, I just sit quietly and smile.  At least I wrote on my “informational sheet” that they received that I’m quiet at first.  Ha.

 

This afternoon I have to finish unpacking everything, and then there may (or may not, my Spanish is poor, remember?) some kind of group dinner.  Since we didn’t finish the group lunch till about 4pm, I’m kind of terrified of group dinner, even if it’s not till 9pm.  To be fair though, everything I’ve eaten so far has been delicious, and in a mostly reasonable quantity.  I know it won’t surprise my family that I’ve found that I like most of the food here, but it’s been mostly all wins so far.

 

I have decided that I desperately need to acquire a Spanish dictionary.  The idea of continuing in my current state of imbecile muteness isn’t really appealing.  Especially since I think my se�oras are such sweet people, and I’d rather they didn’t think I had the comprehension levels of a goat.  Ah well.  At least the dog likes me.

 

One odd thing I’ve noticed here is that the TV is at least 50% American shows, which I wasn’t expecting.  Most of them are subtitled too, rather than dubbed.  This is a good thing in that I’ll have stuff to watch in my free time (once some of that crops up), but bad in that I kind of thought it would be fun to watch some different Spanish TV, and so far all I’ve found are news and telenovelas.  But then, I’m pretty sure if I look a little harder I’ll find something.

 

This morning was spent doing a 2-hour walking tour of Puebla.  I could be wrong, but I think our tour guide was also unimpressed with our group’s comprehension of Spanish.  To be fair, I did catch a good bit of what he said, and he was kind enough to speak incredibly slowly when he wasn’t making jokes about our ignorance.  Sigh.  It’s very humbling to be completely unable to communicate, that’s for sure.

 

I’m going to include some pictures here if possible:

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Well, time for my siesta before dinner!  Will update you all again as soon as new stuff happens!

 

Adios!

 

  


Location: 11 Sur 5307, Prados Agua Azul, Puebla, Mexico